Why I Love Tracy

In another post, I mentioned doing a post about why I love our new home. So here goes nothing!

1. The weather. For the first two weeks we lived here, I did the same thing everyday. I walked outside and said something like "Wow it feels so good here." While everyone here was complaining of heat, Tyler and I practically ran to get our sweaters. There are so many things to love about this weather. While we have only been here long enough to experience one season, I can tell you some specifics that I love. I know I complained about how bright it is, but I also have to mention how much I love the sunshine. It's hardly every cloudy and when it is, it's not dreary. I love how much it cools down at night. It's so refreshing to wake up and open windows rather than turning on our air, and opening them again in the evening. Or like today- windows open all day. I'll probably need a winter post to comment on my feelings about the "winter" weather here.

2. The scenery. We live in the valley. This is cool for two reasons: 1. You can't live in a valley in Oklahoma, so that's a change of pace. 2. This means non-valleys... or mountains. We live on the very western edge of the Central Valley. From Tracy, we can see mountains from pretty much anywhere in town. Coming from the lovely flatness of Oklahoma, I find a lot of pleasure in simply looking at the different scenery.

3. Friendly. I did not anticipate Tracy to be such a friendly town. Tracy is quite a bit bigger than Owasso, Joplin, and Stillwater, but it feels a lot more like a small town than those towns. For example, I finally found a good place to run in Tracy. There were many people running or exercising, just like the park I ran at in Owasso. In Owasso I'd receive the eye contact or casual wave from other runners, but here it is like we all know each other. Everyone was quick to smile and say "Good morning!" I had to try to avoid laughing. The last thing I do while running is smile. Anyway, there's a general friendly factor around Tracy that a lot of towns don't have.

4. Location. Our location in the western edge of the Central Valley puts us within a few hours of a lot of pretty cool things. We haven't gotten to see or do a lot yet, but we've got a long list. For starters, we have San Francisco, and all that comes with the Bay Area. For instance, we are planning a trip to Stanford to go to a volleyball game as it is my favorite team. We've also got good beaches not far from here. East of us we have Yosemite National Park and Lake Tahoe. North of us we have Sacramento and then Napa Valley. The possibilities are pretty cool, we can't wait to go exploring! 

5. Our church. Moving to a new town is pretty intimidating. Not just a new town, but a new state, new climate, new area of the country, etc. It's a big change. Something else that is intimidating is moving to a new church. Our transition at the church as a couple has gone so well. Everyone is so very welcoming and inviting. We have had several people invite us over for dinner, offer their services to the youth ministry, and make sure we are settling alright. I think we've even begun to make some friends! I am volunteering with the high school students and involved in the Thanksgiving/Christmas vocal ensemble. So I'd say we are settling in nicely and finding our place at Journey Christian Church.

I learn something new that I love just about every week. I'm sure there will be many posts in the future about likable and more weird things about this interesting state. In the mean time, I'll keep you updated on other life happenings!